Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance. The theme is that 'Newstart is no longer a transition payment' and so forth. But my first question is, through you, Madam Acting Deputy President Brown: when did the Greens give up on the idea that people should have a job? When did they say, 'It's too hard to find jobs for young people, people in remote communities and older people, so, instead of doing what we must to help you find a job, let's just bump up Newstart and stay on benefits indefinitely'? And we the Greens will no longer have to worry about our job-destroying impact on the Australian economy and, in particular, the Queensland economy.' When did they decide it was no longer worth fighting for more jobs?

I was so interested in this that I did a little bit of googling, as people do. I was trying to find out if the Greens have ever had a single policy that encouraged job creation. Well, yes, they do. They've got a policy about jobs. It may not be about job creation, but it is a policy about jobs, and it is this: to stop using coal for energy and to stop digging it out of the ground and to end all of the jobs associated with it.